Latest Glaciology Stories

One of the deepest ice cores ever drilled in Antarctica is revealing some interesting evidence about the southern continent’s turbulent past and the role Earth’s orbit played in the history of the ice ages.

High heat flow from the mantle into the lithosphere is causing the Greenland ice sheet to melt from below, according to new research published in Sunday’s online edition of the journal Nature Geoscience.

Because sea ice is at its lowest point in 1,500 years, scientists are questioning how ecological communities in the Arctic will be affected by this continued and perhaps accelerating melting process over the next two decades.

During the Pliocene Epoch, the Earth was substantially warmer than it is today, despite similar concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. A new study, led by the University of Colorado Boulder, suggests year-round ice-free conditions across the surface of the Arctic Ocean could explain the difference.

The Columbia Plateau ecoregion is a Level III ecoregion designed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. states of Oregon and Washington, with little areas over the Washington state border in Idaho. This ecoregion stretches across a wide swath of the Columbia River Basin from the Dalles, Oregon to Lewiston, Idaho to Okanogan, Washington near the Canadian border. It incorporates nearly 500 miles of the Columbia River, as well as the lower reaches of major tributaries....

The Arctic Ocean which is located in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Arctic north polar region, is the shallowest and smallest of the world’s five major oceanic divisions. The International Hydrographic Organization recognizes it as an ocean, although, some oceanographers consider it as the Arctic Mediterranean Sea or simply, the Arctic Sea, classifying it a Mediterranean sea or an estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. Alternatively, the Arctic Ocean can be considered as the northernmost...

Meltwater is water that is released from melting snow or ice. This includes meltwater from glacial ice and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often produced during volcanic eruptions, and can cause dangerous lahars (landslides of wet volcanic debris). When meltwater pools on the surface rather than draining or flowing away, it forms pools known as melt ponds. Meltwater will often refreeze as the temperature drops. Meltwater can also collect or melt under the ice's surface. Sub-glacial...